Now to walk the fine line of maintaining her nature as NOT a spoiled val, and feeling motivated to see peace as A Very Good Thing. Chel could be a lot more like this if they could get their act together.

She probably less thinking "Clearly these people have their act together, we should be more like them." and more thinking "Why aren't these spoiled bastards using this money to do some good?"

I get the impression that the primary issue she feels is less that Felde is well-off and more that nothing about the war is being reflected in Felde. It probably runs counter to her comprehension of how important Chel is (perhaps that it's the "center", or what happens there would trickle down elsewhere), and it doesn't fit with how much importance she has vested into the war. She's spent, what, close to half her life in the war and has tried to see it as an extension of her ideals. So she may just be trying to struggle with the dissonance between her world comprehension and the current situation, and is inexperienced with picturing such a contrast.To be fair, a lot of the underworld HAS been affected some by the war, right?

As for the dildo thing...Eh, I think a joke in that spot breaks the flow a bit. The page started with the set-up for future action and developments, and then with a timely scene cut it took us to Ariel's impression of and thoughts about the building and rooms they're in. It's a nice thoughtful moment, showcasing Ariel facing a situation where her efforts have been irrelevant, and her discomfort/confusion with that and with living in comfort. Faen serves as a foil here, as someone more willing to enjoy a moment of comfort than fret. And then, random joke. *shrug*

Whizzard wrote:If you are against mature themes in media you consume, then Drowtales REALLY isn't for you.

Just wanted to point out that sexual themes are not the only kind of mature themes. You can have a media that deals with mature/adult themes without sex being part of the equasion.

I also want to point out that I also meant all of the mature themes Drowtales is handling: child abuse, killing children, torture, bullying, slavery, incest, etc. Sexuality is very minor part of it all and yet suddenly getting most attention.

Because it's also more explicit and smeared into our faces than the other themes. Or do you need an extra close-up of that dildo which Faen's currently holding? About the other themes, I certainly agree with you, those are also apparent in the comic, yet they were always set in a more serious tone and didn't have this fanservicy feeling to them as with the scenes we're getting right now. It feels out of place.

I think this is a matter of personal taste as opposed to actual storytelling being good or bad. That's noticeable by the replies alone.

It doesn't have to be your cuppa, and it's not going to be. Nothing Kern does is going to be likable to everyone, especially when it involves things of a sexual nature. But your personal biases don't mean that's what the story is, especially if you're only looking at it through a certain lens.

Criticism is fine, but outright saying "It's nothing but fanservice now" isn't a fact. At all. It's personal opinion and trying to slap someone in the face with it "Please continue enjoying your gratuitous fanservice scenes" is unnecessary. You don't have to like what's going on, but don't shove that opinion as a fact onto someone else.

Some people think a dildo is going too far. You're more than entitled to your opinion, and everything that leads up to you feeling the way you do. But not everyone here feels the same way about sexual material in their media, of any varying sort, and those people's views should be as equally respected as yours.

tl;dr: People here have varying tolerance levels, but that does not make a story bad just because it's going in a direction that doesn't suit your tastes.

Edit: This post was not directed at anyone in particular, although I did quote someone in the forums. Just wanted to make that clear.

Kaiser wrote:There is a difference between censorship and focusing on the plot. It's starting to feel like Game of Thrones with gratuitous fanservice and racy jokes. Once or twice a chapter is fine, but it feels like padding when we have scene after scene of this sort of material. Maybe us non-DD subscribers are more sensitive to it than most but the prevalence of the dirty humor is starting to mess with both the tone and pacing of the story.

Exactly. Besides, why even have a subscription to Daydream anymore if you get service right away for free in the main story?

I don't know, it could just be me, afterall. But I'm the kind of person who wants to see a story progress through non-fanservicy means, so to speak.

Besides, what's the extra value of seeing Ariel and Faen in a sexual scene right now? What does it add to their characters? As has been said before, they're an established couple now. Do we need to know precisely how they have sex now, how they finger each other now or something? Don't know, just wondering. I'd rather see them exchange kisses or hugs now and then instead of seeing dildo's every now and then. Sex is one thing, affection another. And in most cases, it's the latter which keeps a relationship working.

I will be blunt; you make it sound like the comic is smeared with smut

Naur wrote:I've heard this comparison made between the original last airbender series and korra, that the exploits and adventures of Aang and his friends felt much more urgent and stronger given they were a bit more then half of Korra and co.'s age while doing it.

Also if you recall Aang and co. had a hard time limit, were as korra kinda keeps getting things done like once a year as things pop up.

Serious question though, what is that dildo made out of? it looks squishy...

Last edited by Hellsion on Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:16 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Well, I'm not gonna keep arguing when people automatically start assuming I'm some kind of puritan reactionary person who's been living under a stone even though I have stated various times I have no problem with sex at all. Also, if that's the reaction I get for just a bit of criticism, it says a lot about the mindset some people here have. I indeed agree that people have different tastes, and perhaps the story's just not to my taste right now. I just wanted to state that those kinds of sex-related jokes, right now, are implemented at the wrong time at the wrong place in the comic, and it's breaking immersion and story build-up. That's all.

Anyway, those are my two cents. I'll probably just skip the next couple of pages until things get interesting again.

It's not the dirty humor in and of itself that is bad. How it's handled is. We've already had the Nau-Ariel misunderstanding, the Kiel-Fame distraction attempt, Kuso being Kuso, and now this. On this very page, we have an emotionally distraught Erelice promising to start some serious shit creating a rather potent case of mood whiplash when we get to the punchline. Not to mention the humor coupled with Ariel philosophizing clashes with itself. We had the Kavahini tease several pages ago which got everyone excited only for nothing to happen with that since.

And the reason for darkness-induced apathy stems mostly from our characters getting less sympathetic, which them acting like caricatures of themselves doesn't help.

While personally, I feel the joke on this page went a bit too far, my problem lies not with the content but with how clumsily said content is handled and spliced into the story. Thus, it's also not just a case of personal preferences but, in my opinion, of the actual storytelling being bad.

Last edited by Kaiser on Sat Jun 14, 2014 6:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

It's not the dirty humor in and of itself that is bad. How it's handled is. We've already had the Nau-Ariel misunderstanding, the Kiel-Fame distraction attempt, Kuso being Kuso, and now this. On this very page, we have an emotionally distraught Erelice promising to start some serious shit creating a rather potent case of mood whiplash when we get to the punchline. Not to mention the humor coupled with Ariel philosophizing clashes with itself. We had the Kavahini tease several pages ago which got everyone excited only for nothing to happen with that since.

And the reason for darkness-induced apathy stems mostly from our characters getting less sympathetic, which them acting like caricatures of themselves doesn't help.

While personally, I feel the joke on this page went a bit too far, my problem lies not with the content but with how clumsily said content is handled and spliced into the stor. Thus, it's also not just a case of personal preferences but, in my opinion, of the actual storytelling being bad.

^ This is how I feel. I don't mind lightheartedness in the comic (if DT was grimdark all the time I wouldn't bother with it) but the constant mood whiplash is getting tiresome.

That and I personally think the romantic subplots are distracting the actual plot progression way too much but that's just my thought on it and obviously other people don't mind